Voters and poll workers reported chaos, nonfunctional polling places, unsanitary conditions, and low turnout across the state of Illinois on Tuesday as the primary election continued despite the coronavirus outbreak.
After the state scrambled to move polling places away from nursing homes and other vulnerable populations, some voters said they were unable to vote because their new polling places lacked basic voting supplies.
With scores of election judges and volunteers dropping out at the last minute in the face of the outbreak, the city of Chicago was asking “able bodied voters” to act as last-minute poll workers as a way to deal with understaffed polling locations, according to an email viewed by BuzzFeed News. The Cook County Clerk’s Office posted that it was “waiving all training requirements” for applicants who wanted to serve as election judges.